For progressives looking to take the long view against white nationalists, Oakland organizer Aimee Allison has an idea: help her new organization elect more African American women to office.

Even though African American women are the Democratic Party’s most loyal voters — upward of 90 percent regularly back the party’s presidential candidate — none has ever served as a governor and only two have served in the U.S. Senate. Thirty-five states have never had a black woman serve in Congress.

In recent years, Georgia has become a state perpetually on the verge of theoretically turning blue. And now the state's governor's primary — between two candidates named Stacey — is a microcosm of a larger Democratic existential crisis, bringing delicate but explosive questions about race and party politics to the fore.

Stacey Abrams, the Democratic leader of the Georgia Statehouse, could become the nation’s first black female elected governor.

She hopes to replace Republican Gov. Nathan Deal, who has exhausted his two four-year term limit. Although she is widely considered by members of both parties to be a skilled and savvy political leader, winning the state’s top elected office will not be easy.